Antica Pesa

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

From a 17th-Century Customs Post to Brooklyn

The story behind Antica Pesa is not the kind restaurants usually invent for themselves. On via Garibaldi in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood, a customs post once used weights and scales — pese — to portion wheat brought in by local farmers. When customs officers noticed their neighbors going hungry, they opened a tavern. That act of quiet generosity is the seed from which everything else grew.

In 1922, the Panella family took over that former customs post and turned it into an authentic Roman trattoria, transforming humble, locally sourced ingredients into nourishing dishes. The name they chose — Antica Pesa, meaning Antique Scales — was a deliberate bow to those origins. Nearly a century later, in 2012, the family crossed the Atlantic.

Williamsburg as the New Trastevere

The choice of Williamsburg was not accidental. For the Panella brothers, this Brooklyn neighborhood — defined by its own transformation and positioned across a river from the city's center — mirrors Trastevere in character and spirit. Antica Pesa arrived on Berry Street as one of the early anchors of Brooklyn's restaurant renaissance, carrying an ambitious contemporary twist on traditional Roman dishes.

Today the restaurant is led by three partners from the family's fourth generation. Simone Panella works as executive chef, grounding his cooking in respect for tradition while applying modern technique and ongoing research. Francesco Panella drives the international vision as restaurateur and entrepreneur, drawing on the stories and customs that food carries. Lorenzo Panella, who has had Italian hospitality ingrained in him since childhood, rounds out the leadership.

Roman Cuisine, Rooted and Evolving

The kitchen's philosophy centers on reinterpretations of comforting Roman recipes that honor each season's produce — an emphasis on memory, technique, and tradition rather than novelty for its own sake. That commitment has earned Antica Pesa recognition from Gambero Rosso, Italy's most authoritative food guide, as well as the title of Best Roman Restaurant from La Repubblica.

Sustainability is woven into the operation as well, with the family maintaining what they call Antica Pesa Forest — a conservation initiative that extends their sense of responsibility beyond the dining room.

For devotees of Roman cuisine in New York, Antica Pesa on Berry Street has become, in the restaurant's own words, an extension of their own homes: a place where meals filled with rich tradition remain an essential part of daily life.